Just Started Flowering - Too Late Flowering and Expect to be too tall. Suggestions?

[Bootsy]

Problem - I THINK PLANTS WILL BE TOO TALL FOR TENT. I'm back. Second grow. in plastic bags with coco using a set formula of basic Holland Secret nutrients. In short, i had a few minor issues at the start, but growing well lately. seeds generated first of Feb. i Pineapple Chunk, 1 mint chocolate chip, and 2 Blackwater. small tent 3 by 3 by 5 ft high, so with 4 plants I expected to have to limit the number of colas. I forgot about height. just started the 12:12 last night. With 14 inches from the (dimmable) 600 W Metal Halide (soon to change to HPS), and fastening the light to the roof of tent, i only have around 11 inches of growth left. The light i set at 600w and at the current height it is on the edge of damage.
now I wonder - should i top the fast reaching branches? i will at least try to tie back, but there' only so much to do. should i just wait and see what happens now - my preference. unless i get real advice, i will tie em a bit, wait and hope for the best. I was going to add my 300 w LED, but am now afraid.
I am now to go do some reading. any suggestions are appreciated. the photos are from today

[Bootsy]

And further, it seems like the internode distances are way too long, but i have been pushing the limit with light height the whole way.

[JDU]

Have you done a LST?
I thought I was lookin at the same predicament this grow but the stretch wasn't as dramatic as I have heard & we're all good here.

[Bootsy]

i did, but not good enough i guess. im hoping for the same experience as yours. thanks

[gbauto]

At this point, all you can do is some LST or perhaps some selective HST to fold the unruly tops over. I've done it in the past with decent results. The plant will tell you if it's getting to close. Since you just flipped, I'd look for the tallest limbs and form a knuckle at the lowest green growth to lower the entire canopy. That will give you tons of new cola sites during stretch .

[Bootsy]

HST. sounds interesting! wait a bit?

[gbauto]

read the edit

[Bootsy]

thank. i have done quite a bit of LST , to my ability, but some branches really went fast compared to others - on each plant. your experience makes me hopeful. except the pineapple chunk, thee should be relatively short plants.

[JDU]

Yeah they do that. Ya just keep pulling the fastest growers down the best ya can.

[RagWeedDWC]

At this point I think what I would try is to super crop the heck out of it. pick my best stems and tuck or cut the rest. I had to do something similar in my "tumble weed grow", all the buds along the stem just turned up to the light. It was still tight but manageable.

https://www.growweedeasy.com/how-to-super-crop-marijuana

[Bootsy]

thanks. i think i will try it, but i am already in flowering now. next time i will be more controlled. at least they are all growing. i see stuff saying that keeping the daytime to night-time temperature differential to a minimum will help. will try that too. I also have cut way back on the grow portion of the nutrient recipe a per the schedule, so likely that will help too.

[Bootsy]

Can't see what i can lose, even if i kill the few branches. Even though they are already in flowering (only second day) , I tried the super-cropping on the less thick blackwater at front left on two stems that were inordinately taller, and on the 4 main stems of the pineapple chunk at the back right . one photo shows the whole tent, one is the BW with two stems bent back, and the third is of the PC with 4 stems cranked over. hope this might help some other newbies and maybe make some others chuckle. And - the Mint Chocolate Chip at front right is sitting on a 3 inch box. it was a slow starter, but is outgrowing the others right now and may come off the box eventually. On an aside, I also tried 4 cuttings to see if i can make clones. I seem to learn everything the hard way, but i have fun.
Another thing i have noticed is that i now water every second day, used to be 3rd, and at the end, the leaves start cupping up, which i associated with light damage, so would raise the lights a little. but - each time when i watered/fed, they look great - like this morning. maybe i should water more often? seems like it, from recent reading in GWE.

[Bootsy]

I just looked. the clones lok muc better in the photos. seem pretty droopy to me.

[dphipps1020]

The bigger your girls get, the more you're going to have to water. I've got a beast in a hydro bucket that drinks 10 gallons in a week it's crazy! My watering "schedule" is changing as well. I have some that need water every 2 days now when it used to be 3-4 days. Part of that is needing to transplant into the final pots, but most of it is the size (about 2' tall in 2 gallon pots, quadlined). I'll be posting updated pictures on one of my posts in the next couple days.

[Bootsy]

neat. the hydro(coco) is very different from soil. faster everything.

[Bootsy]

So I am a tinkerer - more reading. i think i will do a lighting change. i have the 600 W HID at 100% right now, and keeping up with the cooling without opening a window (winter here). i am going to reduce that to 75%, and add the 300W LED panel i have, at least until plants get too tall. the LED only uses 150W, so the total power is same and cooling should be similar. I read that combo can be great for flower production, and that LED doesn't cause a s much stretch. Hmmm.